Several recent bus and truck accidents in Ohio and across the country have drawn the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who summoned members of the bus and trucking industries to a meeting to discuss what can be done to improve highway and road safety.

Although federal regulators have been focused on trucking accidents for many years, bus safety has become an increased cause for of concern since a fatal bus accident claimed the lives of 15 passengers when a bus drove off an elevated highway in March. Accident reports indicated that driver fatigue might have been a factor in that fatal accident.

The rate of fatal truck accidents has dropped in recent years. However, safety advocates believe that much of the decline is because there are fewer drivers on the road due to the recession. They believe that truck accident fatalities could increase again when the economy recovers.

According to the NTSB, as many as 33 percent of commercial motor vehicle accidents are caused by driver fatigue. With concerns about driver fatigue in mind, federal safety regulators have proposed several new rules and regulations designed to prevent fatigued drivers from getting behind the wheel of commercial vehicles.

One proposed regulation would require the installation of recording devices on buses and trucks that would record the amount of time drivers have been behind the wheel. The NTSB would also like to reduce the maximum amount of hours commercial drivers can drive each day from 11 to 10 hours. The regulation would also require drivers to take mandatory rest breaks, reduce drivers' overall work day to a maximum of 14 hours, and require time off the road to rest when drivers have reached a maximum weekly driving limit of 60 hours.

Source: Associated Press, "Panel to focus on deadly truck, bus accidents," 5/10/2011